


Love is Just Another Word for Pain

by SleepyxAsh



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Touch heals the other's wounds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:47:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25709962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepyxAsh/pseuds/SleepyxAsh
Summary: Tobirama wants nothing to do with the idea of soulmates, believing that it is just a way for fate to take away his right to choose who he is with for the rest of his life. He is mortified to realize who his soulmate is during a mission, and is determined to just ignore the bond that he and Madara share. Too bad for him that Madara is more stubborn and persistent than he was expecting.
Relationships: Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Madara
Comments: 54
Kudos: 583





	1. Chapter 1

Tobirama hated the idea of soulmates. It always troubled him that there was supposed to be someone out there that was created specifically for you. That there was someone out there that was supposed to be his _other_ _half._ The thought was unsettling because it felt as though there was a large facet of his life that he was unable to control. He was unable to control the people around him, he was unable to choose what he did for a living. The one thing that he was able to control were most portions of his personal life, so he refused to give into the notion that he was not going to have a choice in who he fell in love with. He swore that before he gave in and got together with whoever his soulmate was, he would be alone for the rest of his life.

***

“Absolutely not!” 

Madara’s too-loud voice caused Tobirama’s ears to ring. It was too early in the morning for such noise, especially from the two blithering idiots that he was stuck inside of the Hokage’s office with. Hashirama and Madara were too intense to deal with separately on the best of times; putting them together less than an hour after Tobirama woke up was just ridiculous.

“Quit shouting,” Tobirama snarled, shooting a glare at the black-haired man next to him and looking away before he could meet Madara’s dark gaze. He turned his glare toward his older brother, completely unimpressed with the pleading puppy-dog eyes that Hashirama was sending his way.

“Please understand that I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t completely necessary!” Hashirama exclaimed, his voice coming out even louder than his best friend’s.

“Can we please just lower the volume?” Tobirama asked weakly. “I’m certain that we all have the ability to communicate with our inside voices. Uchiha, please just shut up for a few minutes and let Hashirama get more than two words out of his mouth before you have a total mental breakdown. It’s a mission from our hokage, and as much as I believe that he’s an idiot, there might actually be a reason for him asking.”

Tobirama didn’t have to look over to know that Madara was shooting him a massive death-glare that would probably make a lesser man shrivel up in fear, but Tobirama had lost all notions of fear of the eldest Uchiha brother when he’d seen him shuffle around Hashirama’s house half-asleep, looking like a confused three-year-old one too many times.

“Look, I wouldn’t be asking this of you guys if it weren’t imperative that it be done quickly and correctly,” Hashirama insisted. “I’d go myself, but I have a meeting with the head of the Akimichi clan tomorrow morning. That leaves the two of you to see this through. There’s a large group of rogue ninja that are stationed just on our side of the border of the Fire Country and the Land of Wind. They’ve killed dozens of civilians from both countries and the last group of Shinobi that I sent out haven’t come back. They were due two weeks ago. You two know all of this already. I’m not sure why you’re being so resistant to the idea!”

“I’m not resistant to going,” Madara said, “I’m resistant to going with _him._ I don’t need him with me to make sure that the mission’s successful. Senju’s big head will only get in the way!”

Tobirama raised an eyebrow at Madara before he turned to look to his brother. “I believe that Uchiha is mistaken, Hashirama. I can lead the mission alone, this buffoon’s ego will take up more baggage than the rest of the ninja that are going to be with me. Let him stay here and help you with the negotiations.”

“There are a few renowned shinobi from other countries in this group,” Hashirama informed them. “You two are the strongest shinobi in this village after me. You might think that this is pointless, and it might be a bit of an overkill, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. Can you two just try and get along just a little...for me?”

Tobirama sighed, slumping forward a little. He was more than just a little irritated with his brother, but he already knew that there was no way that he was going to be able to tell him no, and judging from the grumbling that was coming out of the mouth next to him, Madara was just as resigned to the situation as he was.

“I’ll go and get packed for the trip,” Tobirama said. “Have the others been informed that they have a mission?”

“Yes,” Hashirama replied. “I ran into Izuna earlier and had him go out and find the others. They’ll be at the gate at sunset.”

***

_(Two Weeks Later)_

Tobirama cursed his horrible luck. This day had been nothing but trouble from the moment that he had been startled into consciousness. He’d only been awake for less than two hours, but he just wanted to go home and demand a do-over for the whole mission. One of the men on their team, Tobirama was certain that it was someone from the Shimura clan, had been on guard duty for the night and had been silently killed. If Tobirama hadn’t been unconsciously pouring chakra in the earth around him, he never would have known that they were being attacked and the rest of them would have been dead too. 

“At least they’re all dead now,” Touka panted from behind him. He turned and looked at his brunette cousin, whose face was bruised and battered. Her armor had drying flecks of blood on it, and her hair was flying insanely around her face.

Tobirama silently nodded as he allowed his eyes to roam around the clearing, taking a mental roll-call of all the shinobi that were there, either standing around, or on the ground, having their wounds tended.

He blinked uncomprehendingly as his mental calculations came back short by two people. It only took him another heartbeat to recognize who exactly was missing. “Hey, Touka,” Tobirama said slowly, “have you seen….” he trailed off as Izuna’s loud voice echoed into the clearing.

“Help!” the younger Uchiha sibling shouted. “Madara’s down!”

“Shit,” Tobirama cursed. He quickly took off, leaving his cousin and the others behind as he made it into the trees, moving toward the sound of the panicking babbling. It must be really bad if Izuna sounded _that_ upset.

It took him a couple of minutes to reach them, having to use his sensory capabilities to hone in on their exact location. He wasn’t sure why they had moved so far away from the rest of their group, but their fight had obviously been a bad one, and it had taken a toll on the surrounding area. Trees were toppled over and on fire. There were large puddles of water, earth was lifted and broken in several areas. Izuna was at the bottom of a large crater with three bodies surrounding him, kneeling over the supine form of his brother.

“What the hell happened?” Tobirama demanded as he hopped off a tree and landed on the forest floor next to Izuna.

“He took a jutsu to the stomach for me,” Izuna said. His voice sounded light and airy, as though he was mere moments from fainting. “He...he won’t wake up.” He turned and looked at Tobirama with wide, teary eyes. “Tobirama...he won’t wake up!”

“Calm down,” Tobirama snapped at him. He didn’t have time to fix Madara _and_ deal with a hysterical Izuna. “Move out the way.”

Izuna scrambled backward, his eyes becoming a bit clearer at Tobirama’s commanding tone. Tobirama turned away from Izuna and looked down at the older man. His eyes were closed and his face was completely void of any expression. All Madara had on was the standard-issued black long-sleeved shirt that all shinobi had. His armor was probably still in his tent. Tobirama hadn’t had the time to put his on either before the fighting started, and he doubted that any of the others had been able to. He could see the gaping hole in the fabric where some sort of projectile had gone through him. The wound looked bad, and part of Tobirama was surprised that he was still alive. His eyes flickered to Madara’s chest and face to confirm that he was, in fact, still alive. Thankfully, there was a steady rising and falling to his chest.

“There’s not much that I can do for this,” Tobirama admitted. “I’m not as gifted in healing jutsu as Hashirama, but I can stop the bleeding temporarily, at the very least.”

He carefully grabbed the bottom of Madara’s shirt and pulled it up, taking care not to snatch it off the wound and cause any more damage. Once it was bunched up at his chest, he leaned forward to take a closer look. He placed his hand on the earth next to Madara’s form and moved to get closer. He felt the flesh of his wrist brush against Madara’s naked side, and the reaction was instantaneous. 

He felt the skin on his arm heat up to a nearly uncomfortable level and Madara’s entire body jolted. The Uchiha’s eyes snapped open and he tried to curl in on himself and sit up at the same time. Tobirama’s eyes widened as several things clicked together in his mind all at once, but he quickly brushed them aside and grabbed Madara’s shoulders, slamming him back onto the earth before he could make the wound any worse than it already was.

“Calm down, Uchiha!” Tobirama snarled at him. He turned his head toward Izuna and barked, “Get over here and hold your brother down!”

Izuna immediately complied, practically flying over and replacing Tobirama’s firm grip with his own. “What happened?” Izuna cried. “You haven’t even used a jutsu yet!”

“We can talk about it later,” Tobirama told him. “Just hold him down, and don’t let him move!”

When he got a curt nod from Izuna, Tobirama swung one of his legs over Madara’s hip and sat down firmly on his thighs to keep him locked in place and brought his bare hands to Madara’s torso, on either side of the wound. Madara immediately started thrashing, but Izuna’s and Tobirama’s combined strength kept him mostly still. Tobirama watched with wide, resigned eyes as the gaping hole in his gut started to shrink.

“Oh, sweet sage,” Izuna breathed, looking down at Madara’s stomach. “Please tell me that you figured out a way to do jutsu without any hand signs.”

“I’m afraid not,” Tobirama murmured. 

“That...that means,” Izuna whimpered. “You two are….”

“We’re soulmates,” Tobirama said quietly.

Silence rang through the clearing at the admission. Tobirama was grateful for the consideration from the other, even if it was only because he was so dumbfounded by the discovery that he’d been stunned into silence. He shut his eyes, trying to will away the dread and anger that was pooling in his gut. This wasn’t what he wanted. He didn’t want to _ever_ meet his destined, let alone for it to be Madara Uchiha.

It took twenty minutes of painful silence for the wound to close to a more manageable size. It would only be uncomfortable to him to deal with. It was nowhere near life-threatening, and Madara would be able to travel back to the village and get a professional to finish the healing process.

When Tobirama moved to get off the older Uchiha brother, Madara’s eyes snapped open. He was breathing heavily, and Tobirama imagined that all the accelerated healing that his body had done had been painful and exhausting.

“What the hell happened?” Madara asked. His voice came out faint and hoarse.

“You idiot,” Izuna wailed, glomping on Madara’s upper half and pulling him in for an awkward hug. “Don’t you _ever_ scare me like that again!”

“You decided to play hero and nearly got yourself killed,” Tobirama informed him, moving off Madara’s legs and getting to his feet. “Next time you want to pull a stunt so reckless, you might not be so lucky.” He looked down at the pair of brothers, ignoring the scowl that Madara had on his face as he looked up at him, past Izuna’s hair. “I take it that you can help him back to the clearing, Izuna?” Tobirama questioned.

Izuna abruptly straightened up and looked back at Tobirama with wide, dark eyes. “Are you sure?” Izuna asked. “Don’t you want to-”

“Absolutely not,” Tobirama said. “I don’t care what you do, but I’m not…” he trailed off as he rubbed his face with his hand and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m not talking about it.”

Before Madara could start asking questions or Izuna could protest, he was already moving away, jumping up into a tree and heading back to the clearing where the others were.

“What’s wrong with you,” Touka asked immediately as he landed back on the ground. “Is Uchiha-”

“They’re both fine,” Tobirama assured her. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m just ready to go home.”

***

“What was that about?” Madara asked as he slowly pushed himself into a seated position.

“Well,” Izuna sighed. “It’s...well….” he trailed off and looked at Madara with the most desperate and lost expression that he’d seen on his brother’s face since Konoha had been founded. 

“What happened?” Madara demanded as worry began to settle uncomfortably in his stomach.

“Tobirama healed you,” Izuna sighed. He bit his lower lip as he looked down at Madara’s throbbing stomach.

“I figured that much, brother,” Madara said. “That’s not what’s bothering him, though.” He scowled at the way that Izuna’s gaze was flitting around the forest, stopping in one spot for a few moments before he would look elsewhere. He refused to look anywhere near Madara, however. He darted his hand out and grabbed Izuna by the chin and forced his gaze to settle on him. “Izuna,” he said slowly. “What. The. Hell. Happened?”

“He healed you without a jutsu,” Izuna said slowly. “He...he touched your stomach and your wound started closing, brother.”

Madara looked at him in confusion for a few moments, knowing that there was an important connection that he needed to make with that information. “That’s not possible,” he said quietly, still not comprehending, even though there was an uncomfortable feeling of shock and dread over something in the back of his head. “Senju can’t heal someone without a jutsu.”

“You’re right,” Izuna said quietly. “It’s just you.”

Madara’s hand slowly fell from Izuna’s face as his entire mind caught up with what Izuna was telling him. “He...you mean to tell me that he’s my….” he trailed off, unable to so much as speak the term.

“He’s your soulmate,” Izuna said quietly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since I've decided to show up around here! I've missed it and writing, so I decided that I'd do something short to warm myself up before I got back to my other stories that I've been neglecting. I hope that you enjoyed!


	2. Chapter 2

_ (Two Months Later) _

They hadn’t spoken since the mission to the edge of the Fire Country. Madara was completely fine with that. He honestly didn’t know what he would say to the other if Tobirama approached him to speak about it. He was sort of surprised that the other man  _ hadn’t _ . He figured that the other’s mind was sharp enough to form some sort of discussion about it, even if it was an absolute rejection to the entire idea of a relationship.

He wasn’t sure if he was alright with the thought of rejection, however. He’d never put a lot of stock in the idea of a soulmate, pretty certain that he would be dead long before he ever got the chance to meet them, but it was still a nice concept all the same.

“Madara!” Hashirama’s wail grated against his ears as the door to his office was dramatically swung open. It banged against the wall with way too much force, breaking the glass window on the door itself and causing a couple of pictures to fall off his walls.

He felt his left eye twitch out of annoyance as he looked up at Hashirama. “This had better be good,” Madara snarled at him, pushing himself up from his chair and moving from around his desk, if only to jump at his best friend if it turned out to be something ridiculous.

“Tobirama’s injured!” Hashirama wailed. Tears were falling down his cheeks as he frantically jumped up and down “He’s losing too much blood and the wounds are too severe for anyone in the village to heal. I...Izuna told me to come and get you! You’ll be able to help him, right? He’s...Madara I can’t let him die! My baby brother! Oh, god, please help him!”

Madara immediately rushed out of the room, not bothering to stop and reassure Hashirama. If the Hokage himself was unable to heal the wounds, then they were grave. Tobirama didn’t have much time left. He wasn’t nearly as skilled a sensor as Tobirama, but it wasn’t hard to locate the massive group of healing ninjas in the hospital, circling a steadily diminishing chakra signature. 

He quickly did the hand-signs for a body-flicker jutsu and found himself outside of the door of what was obviously Tobirama’s room. He immediately forced the door open, shoved a couple of the hospital employees out of the way and made his way to the blood-soaked bed that Tobirama was limply lying on.

There was a large hole in his thigh, so deep that Madara could see bone past shredded muscle. His right arm was a mangled heap next to him, sitting at one of the most unnatural angles that Madara had ever seen. There was a steadily bleeding gash on his stomach, three holes in his left shoulder and his neck had been cut, narrowly missing the carotid artery, from the looks of it.

“How the hell is he not dead?” Madara asked faintly.

He stumbled forward, immediately discarding the vest that was covering his torso and quickly pulled his shirt over his head, tossing it to the side. Before any of the shinobi could demand to know what was going on, Madara was on top of Tobirama, careful to make sure that he was still holding all of his weight. He knew that the wider the area of touch was, the faster that the other would heal.

He winced as his body began heating up way past the point of discomfort. Tobirama didn’t react to it at all, and Madara didn’t know whether to be thankful for it or concerned. The chatter immediately stopped around him, and Madara could feel the eyes of everyone in the room around him.

“They're soulmates!” one of the shinobi yelped. 

Before Madara could say anything to any of them, he found himself surrounded. He was manhandled onto his back with Tobirama laying on top of him, the other’s head buried limply into his neck. 

“Could you guys kindly fuck off!” he snarled at the hospital workers. “There’s nothing left here for you guys to do! You’re giving me a damn migraine! Get out and keep this information to yourselves! If you tell anyone at all, I’ll hunt you down and burn each and every one of you to a crisp!”

At that aggressive dismissal, the ninja scurried out of the room only for two more men to rush inside. Izuna and Hashirama were in the doorway. Both looked haggard, bloody and near tears. Hashirama stumbled forward almost drunkenly and somehow made it to the bed on both feet. His hand came forward and gently ran across Tobirama’s head, petting his hair.

“Thank goodness,” Hashirama whimpered, his legs finally giving out. He fell to his knees, and buried his face into the mattress, letting out a loud, broken sob.

“What happened?” Madara asked, looking up at his brother. He brought his hand over and placed it comfortingly on Hashirama’s head.

“He was out doing a routine inspection on the border patrols,” Izuna said quietly. “There was a disturbance out there from what I could gather. I don’t know anything else right now. Everyone else that was on patrol is dead. Tobirama used his Hiraishin technique and made it back here. He transported himself right by that new barbeque joint that just opened. I was leaving to go back to work and he popped up. He managed to say something about brothers before he passed out. I’ve already sent out a team of over fifty shinobi to scour the area and there are ten more that are pouring over the list missing ninja to figure out who it could have been.”

“Good work,” Madara said, wondering if fifty shinobi would be enough to take care of whatever it was that had attacked. Tobirama was easily worth fifty regular jounin by himself, and there had been more people with him to provide backup when the attack happened. He shook off the worry, knowing that his brother had a good eye for decent shinobi. He would have sent out a good team that would be capable of at least observing the problem.

He turned his attention toward Tobirama’s hysterical older brother, who had yet to stop crying, let alone attempting to suffocate himself with the mattress. “He’s going to be fine, Hashirama,” Madara said softly. “You need to calm down before you get yourself admitted here as a patient. Do you think that he’d be very happy about that? The last thing that he needs to do when he wakes up is lecture you on how a hokage is supposed to act.”

Surprisingly, Madara’s words reached Hashirama. The brunette slowly stopped crying and lifted his head. “Soulmates,” he uttered quietly. “I’ve neve been so grateful about something in my entire life.” He let out a low sniffle and looked at his brother mournfully. “Why didn’t he tell me?”

“Because he doesn’t want me as a soulmate,” Madara murmured. It hurt a bit to say aloud, but it was certainly the only reason that he could think of. “I imagine that he feels a bit ripped off that it’s the man that he’s hated since the first time we met.”

“And you?” Hashirama asked, his brown eyes filled with blatant hurt. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know,” Madara admitted. “I guess I felt like it was Tobirama’s place to tell you. When you didn’t come barreling down on my door after we realized what we were to each other, I figured that he just didn’t want you to know. Who am I to go against that wish?”

“Do you hate him?” Hashirama asked as he slowly pushed himself to his feet.

“If I hated him, I wouldn’t be here, saving his life,” Madara said. “I’m not sure if I like him or not, but I certainly don’t hate him. I’ve never hated him.”

“You guys might need to talk about this when he wakes up,” Hashirama hedged, looking down at Tobirama with a worried frown. “If I knew about this, I would assign you guys joint missions. It would ensure that you guys would be guaranteed a way to heal all serious wounds that you might receive.”

“He made it very clear that he doesn’t want to talk about it,” Madara told him, “trust me. Just forget about it, Hashirama. Your brother clearly has. Focus on the fact that he’s alive, and that he’s going to be alright. Go home to your wife and let her know what happened. Izuna, why don’t you take him there? If there was ever an excuse for him to take an early day, it would be this.”

“Sure thing, big brother,” Izuna murmured. He walked forward and put his hand on Hashirama’s shoulder. “Let’s go, Hashirama. There’s no need to stand around, agonizing over every small thing. Come back in a few hours, and he might even be awake.”

Tobirama woke up maybe two hours after Hashirama and Izuna left. Part of Madara regretted sending them away, but there was a part of him that really hadn’t wanted anyone else witnessing what was bound to be a painfully awkward moment for both of them.

Madara could feel Tobirama tense as soon as he regained consciousness. A moment later, the tension became so thick in the air that Madara felt as though he was suffocating from it. They laid just like that, frozen in either mortification, anger or embarrassment for what felt like hours, then Tobirama began moving. Madara felt blood-slicked hands move to the bed on either side of his frame and then he felt Tobirama shakily trying to push himself up.

Madara felt himself move without really thinking. He brought his arms up and wrapped them around Tobirama and snatched him back down so that the man was laying on him with all of his weight again. 

“Don’t be an idiot,” Madara said gruffly. “You’re still injured.”

“I’m well enough,” Tobirama replied quietly. “I don’t need your help, Uchiha. You owe me nothing at all.”

“It’s not about me owing you anything,” Madara said, “though you  _ did _ save my life a while back. It’s about being a decent person. You literally had your throat slit, there was a gash in your stomach and a gaping hole in your thigh. You’re lucky to be alive, and you need to heal more before you try and get up again. Just rest and let me help you.”

More silence rang through the air, this one just as heavy and uncomfortable as the last. Thankfully, Tobirama didn’t try and move again, however. The seconds ticked by, slowly turning into minutes, and after what was probably nearly an hour of Madara suffocating underneath the weight of it all, he finally broke it.

“You...how much do you hate me?” Madara questioned. He didn’t know why  _ that _ was the question that he decided to break the silence with, but it came flying out of his mouth before he could stop himself. Hashirama asking all of those questions had obviously started messing with his mind in an awful way, and he was suddenly squirming with the need to know why Tobirama had silently rejected him so firmly. What had he done to the other man to earn such an angry and bitter hatred?

“What are you talking about?” Tobirama questioned quietly. He sounded tired, as though he was only moments from passing out.

“You hate me, right?” Madara asked. “How deeply do you hate me?”

“I don’t hate you, Uchiha,” Tobirama sighed quietly. “You can quit sounding like a kicked puppy, confused by what it did to earn the punishment. Just because I don’t hate you, however, doesn’t mean that I’m interested in that discussion. We’re not talking about it. I’ll let you heal me this time, and then it’s over. We go back to how we were before and we never talk about this again.”

Madara felt the urge to lash out and force Tobirama to argue with him. He wanted a chance to...he didn’t really know what he wanted a chance to do, but he figured that he deserved  _ something _ . He fought back the impulse, however. Tobirama needed to rest and heal, them arguing about anything at all would be detrimental to that effort.

He just sighed and let himself completely melt into the mattress. “Fine,” he murmured. “Just sleep, then, Senju.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter down! I hope that you liked it! I know that nothing was really resolved in this one, but I wanted to get a more concrete stance on their views on soulmates and their feelings toward each other.


	3. Chapter 3

_(Three Months Later)_

Madara scowled in irritation as he sat at the mouth of a cave. He and Tobirama were deep within the borders of the Land of Lightning, just on the outskirts of Kumogakure. It was raining harshly, pouring down buckets as he looked on. He was cold and aggravated at the same time, and he could feel the animosity coming from his teammate that was sitting near the fire that Madara had built a couple of hours before.

“I don’t know why you’re so angry,” Madara groused. “It’s your brother that’s such a meddlesome fool.”

“How do you know that we were stuck on this mission because we’re supposed to be soulmates?” Tobirama shot back, sounding just as unhappy as Madara felt.

Madara turned and gave him a disbelieving look, nearly certain that Tobirama was just shooting off something to say to him for the sake of an argument. Apparently the other wanted a release from his animosity as much as Madara did.

“Oh?” Madara asked him dryly, leaning against the cave wall as he casted him a bored look. “You’re right, I have no idea why he’d pair us together. You know, it might just be because of our amazing chemistry. I mean, everyone in Konoha knows that we get along so fucking well.”

“We might if you weren’t so damn insufferable,” Tobirama snapped.

“I think that you’ve gotten that backward,” Madara informed him. “I’ve been trying to be polite and considerate of you for _months_. You’re the one that has been avoiding me and trying to fight with me like some sort of scared child!”

“Don’t be so ridiculous, Uchiha,” Tobirama scoffed. “I’ve not been avoiding you, nor have I been picking fights with you. What reason would I have for doing either of those?”

“Honestly?” Madara asked, receiving a nod from the other as an answer for him to continue. “I think that you’re afraid that if you were to try and be nice to me, you might find that you actually like me.”

“You’re still on that ridiculous soulmate idea?” Tobirama demanded. “Why don’t you just forget about it, already?”

“I would,” Madara assured him, “but it’s hard when I see the man that is supposed to be my soulmate completely reject the idea and act so coldly toward me, giving me no reason for it at all! I would at least like to know what I did to deserve so much of your ire! Don’t you think I deserve an explanation?!”

“I don’t owe you a damn thing,” Tobirama informed him sharply. He pushed himself to his feet and stormed toward the mouth of the cave so that he could stand nose-to-nose with Madara. “Just because you believe that we’re _destined to be together_ , doesn’t mean that I have to think the same thing! My reasons are my own, and I don’t have to explain a single one of them to you. Take that entitlement that you’re feeling and go to hell with it!”

“I don’t feel entitled to anything!” Madara snarled, putting his hands on Tobirama’s chest and shoving him away. “You always assume the worst in me!” he shook his head, trying to clear all of the rage from inside, but it was too much. He had months of pent-up frustration that was trying and nearly succeeding in spilling out.

The clue-in to how close it was to being released was when he felt a tug at his chakra highway. He heard Tobirama’s breath catch, and he knew exactly why. His sharingan had been activated. His vision was suddenly much clearer, even in the dark and shadowy cave and he was able to see the most minuet signs of Tobirama’s well-concealed fear.

“You don’t need to be afraid of me,” Madara blurted out.

Tobirama didn’t say anything, he simply took a wary step back and Madara noted how the expression on Tobirama’s face didn’t change.

“Fine...whatever, Senju,” Madara snapped, “I’m going for a fucking walk. Hopefully some of your senses will have returned when I come back.”

Tobirama didn’t say anything as Madara abruptly left the cave. He was quickly soaked through in the downpour. It was very uncomfortable in his uniform and armor, but he didn’t care. It was better than being in that cave with Tobirama.

 _Is it really so wrong to want Tobirama? Is it wrong to like him?_ Madara questioned himself as he stalked across the mountainous terrain. The slope, along with the loose rocks and the water made the walk more treacherous than soothing, but Madara was fine with that. The further from Tobirama he got, the better. It didn’t matter that he was in enemy territory. He wanted to come across some shinobi. A good fight would be therapeutic at the very least.

 _Why do I even like him?_ Madara snarled at himself, questioning his opinions and the judgement of the gods that had decided that they were a good match.

 _He’s the smartest person that I know,_ Madara told himself. _He’s actually a great conversationalist. I’ve enjoyed quite a few of the arguments that we’ve had. He makes me think more than anyone else at the village could hope to. He’s handsome...hot, really._ He really was, with his tall, muscular figure, angular jaw, pale complexion, and beautiful red eyes...he was a sight to behold. _If only he wasn’t an irredeemable jackass,_ Madara thought darkly, continuing on with his mental tangent. _He’s kind, caring, and is great with all of the children of the village, even the Uchiha._ He had given up on the hate that he had learned as a child and had embraced Madara and Hashirama’s dreams wholeheartedly, welcoming in all of the clans with open arms. He had accepted everyone except Madara.

There was a large obstruction blocking Madara’s path. It looked to be some sort of man-made rock formation that went up an impressive height. Madara sighed and figured it would be as good a resting spot as any. He didn’t want to go too far from the cave in case there was an emergency. He flooded his feet with chakra and quickly ran up the large, undulating wall, making it to the bumpy top quickly. It actually served as a good vantage point. If the weather was clear, Madara imagined that he would be able to see for miles and miles.

He sighed as he sat down on the edge and rested his elbows on his knees, looking around at the rocks and sparse trees. He wanted this mission to be over so that he could go home and curl up in his bed. He just wanted to forget everything that had happened, especially the sting of rejection that had been getting more and more hurtful as the days passed.

He knew that Hashirama was just trying to keep them both protected and potentially push them closer together in the process, but he didn’t know how much more that he could take of his friend’s good intentions. _The next time that he suggests partnering us up, I’m punching him in the face. I don’t care if I get arrested for treason or not._

He was so mad and hurt, and the pain wasn’t going away, no matter how hard he was trying to calm himself down and push away the stupid and unnecessary emotions. He didn’t know how long he sat out there, just trying to clear his head before he was disturbed, and he supposed that it didn’t matter.

His ears could barely make out the sound of footsteps over the downpour, he immediately jumped away from the edge of the pile and landed on his hands and knees so that he could peer around and look. He inhaled sharply at the sight of two large and battered shinobi. He scowled angrily at the sight of the two men that they had been sent after. Kinkaku and Ginkaku, famously nicknamed the Gold and Silver Brothers.

They had been the two men to attack the borders three months previously and had nearly cost Tobirama his life. Instead of bothering to try and hide it from anyone, the Raikage had boasted about their power and told Hashirama that perhaps he needed to look into hiring stronger shinobi if the men under his command were weak enough to succumb to two foreigners. That was the last talk of peace that Hashirama had attempted with the other nations, and Madara had snapped at the other that they needed to take care of the threat if the Raikage wasn’t going to.

He slowly grabbed a kunai out of his pack and tensed up, preparing himself to attack when he abruptly stopped at the angry tone of their voices. 

“I thought that bastard was dead!” Ginkaku wailed, turning to look at his golden haired brother. “We tore him to pieces, brother!”

“It’s alright,” Kinkaku said assuringly, patting him on the back. “We took care of it this time around. We’ll go back in a little while to make sure that the job’s finished.”

Madara didn’t pause to think. He just turned around and shot himself off the rock formation and quickly rushed down the steep slopes and back toward the cave that he had stormed away from earlier. He inhaled sharply as he saw that the entire structure was in nothing more than pieces of stone; huge mounds of rocks were strewn everywhere, completely covering what used to be the floor of the cave.

“No,” he whimpered, feeling his throat close up as panic was about to overtake him. “No...oh no...Tobirama!”

 _Calm down!_ He snapped at himself. _If he’s still alive, he doesn’t have time for you to panic. You’re a sensor, damnit, so act like one!_ He quickly reached down and placed his hand on one of the rocks and allowed his chakra to flow into the earth to get a reading on his partner’s whereabouts. _I can’t find him,_ Madara’s breathing picked up quickly after that realization. He felt his hands trembling as he pushed further and further out into the cave, but there was no chakra signature to be found.

“Tobirama!” Madara snarled, uncaring if someone came across him or not. “Tobirama! Where the hell are you?!”

“You’re going to attract attention to yourself, Uchiha.”

“I don’t give a fuck!” Madara snarled, spinning around. He abruptly stopped all bodily functions at the sight in front of him. Tobirama was standing there, completely unharmed with his arms crossed over his chest, looking at him with something akin to amusement in his eyes.

He just stared at him for a few moments, his eyes widened, unable to so much as breathe. Eventually he let out a stuttering breath of relief and took a shaky step toward Tobirama. He took another and another and faintly noted that the amusement in Tobirama’s face was quickly fading and was turning into something that resembled concern.

“Your sharingan,” Tobirama told him. “You need to turn it off, Uchiha. I think it’s using too much of your chakra.”

“‘m fine,” Madara told him. “That’s not what’s wrong.”

Tobirama didn’t move as Madara closed the distance between them and gathered the other man into a weak hug. He wanted to crush him to his chest, but he didn’t have the energy, much too weak from the blatant relief that was running through his system. He felt the other stiffen up against him, and he knew that he should probably let Tobirama go, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He just held him more firmly.

“What are you doing, Uchiha?” Tobirama demanded.

“Shut up, Senju,” Madara breathed out, burying his face into Tobirama’s neck and inhaling deeply as he shut his eyes. “Just let me have this. We...we can go back to whatever it was beforehand, but just...just let me hold you for a moment. I thought that you were dead.” He felt something inside of him cringe at how his voice cracked at that last sentence, but he didn’t have the energy to be outwardly mortified by it.

He felt Tobirama’s posture relax and arms wrap around him in return. “You’re ridiculous, you know that, Uchiha,” Tobirama murmured. “How am I supposed to dislike you when you act like this?”

“Don’t dislike me,” Madara suggested meekly. He wanted to make a joke to take some of the tenseness out of the atmosphere, but his brain had short circuited at the sight of Tobirama alive, and he didn’t have it in him to try and be the comedic relief.

“ I can’t even say that you’re pretending. That was too earnest of a reaction from you,” Tobirama sighed.

“I wasn’t pretending,” Madara said. “I’m so happy that you’re alright.” He squeezed him more firmly as he felt his senses slowly coming back to him. He released Tobirama a moment later and grabbed him by his shoulders and looked up at him. “ _How_ are you alive right now?”

Tobirama silently brought his hands in between them and began making an unfamiliar series of hand signs. When he was done, Madara heard a low _poof_ behind him. He let go of Tobirama’s shoulders and spun around and came face-to-face with Tobirama.

“It’s a technique that I’ve been trying to perfect for a while now,” Tobirama admitted quietly. “It’s not done yet, but it was enough to fool Ginkaku and Kinkaku into believing that I was the one that they had caught underneath the rocks.”

“You’re a genius,” Madara breathed. As he walked forward and brought his hand out and pushed against the pseudo-Tobirama, marveling when it didn’t immediately disappear.

“Listen,” he said, turning toward the real Tobirama, “those two brothers have it out for you. I think that it might be beneficial for them to think that you’re dead. They’ll be easier to deal with that way.”

“How so?” Tobirama questioned. “I’m sick of this going on. I’m ready to get rid of them and move on with my life.”

“They’re powerful,” Madara snapped at him. “Do you understand what they just did? They literally just brought an entire cave down on what they thought was you. You almost _died_ the last time that you fought them! You’re a genius, so think about this intelligently! Don’t be impatient. Let them think that they’ve won. We’ll get them soon. Just...just please be smart about it. I don’t want you getting hurt again.”

Tobirama just stared at him, his face was twitching minutely, as though he was trying his best to remain impassive, but there was too much going on inside of his head for him to remain completely stoic. 

“You’re actually worried about me?” Tobirama finally asked. His voice was quiet and small, almost as though he was afraid of the answer.

“Of course I am, you idiot,” Madara snapped. He mentally cursed himself for sounding so harsh. Tobirama had sounded uncertain, and the last thing that Madara wanted to do was push him away. It was the most progress that he had managed since Tobirama had admitted to not hating him. “Why wouldn’t I be worried?” he asked in a gentler voice.

“I guess I should have expected that,” Tobirama said bitterly. “We’re soulmates after all.”

Madara frowned, finally realizing something that probably shouldn’t have taken him five months to figure out. “It’s not me,” he blurted out.

Tobirama raised a pale eyebrow at him, his red eyes flashing in blatant confusion. “What’s not you, Uchiha?”

“You don’t hate the fact that I’m your soulmate,” Madara said. “You hate the thought of soulmates in general.” He felt some of the hurt that he had been harboring for the last five months just disappear when he saw the visible surprise cross over Tobirama’s face. He didn’t know why that was better, especially since that definitely didn’t improve Madara’s chance in Tobirama’s eyes. Perhaps it was because Madara knew that no matter who would have been Tobirama’s soulmate, they would have all received the same cold reception from the man.

When Tobirama didn’t answer him in any way other than that look of shock, Madara pushed on. He’d found a handhold in Tobirama’s reasoning and now he was going to fight to understand as much as he could. “What is it about soulmates that you dislike?” he asked him. “I understand that you’re scientifically minded, so that romantic part of it all is probably lost on you, but I can’t understand why you _hate_ it so much. I’m surprised, actually.”

“It’s not a conversation that we need to be having in the middle of enemy territory during a thunderstorm with two over-powered shinobi nearby that are after my head,” Tobirama informed him quietly. “If you want me to play dead, then we need to get to another hiding point, hide our chakra signatures and wait for them to find my clone’s body. After that, I suppose we can head by to Konoha and come up with a strategy to get rid of them...and have this discussion that you’re so desperate to have.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, we've hit the halfway mark in the story! I hope that you enjoyed the small steps of progress that they've begun to make toward mutual understanding lol. Let me know what you think!


	4. Chapter 4

_(Two weeks later)_

Hashirama had been confused when Tobirama and Madara had come back from their mission without any results, and when they had explained why, his confusion immediately turned to concern. Tobirama had been banned from looking into the Gold and Silver brothers again, and the Hokage himself had taken up Tobirama’s place on the elimination squad.

The chakra of the nine-tails that lived in the brothers hadn’t been enough to beat the combined force of Madara and Hashirama, and the two were quickly apprehended. Madara had been all for executing them on the spot, but Hashirama had quickly vetoed the idea, being the stout humanitarian that he was.

“You’re sure that the chakra-suppressing rope is going to be enough to keep them at bay?” Madara asked Hashirama as they stood outside of Kinkaku’s interrogation room. They were in front of a two-way mirror, looking at the bored form of the golden haired criminal as he slumped forward as far as his bound body would let him. “They have the nine-tail’s chakra, after all. They’re very strong; there’s no denying that.”

“I’m certain,” Hashirama nodded his head. “Tobirama fashioned the rope. I don’t care how strong they are; if he says that it’ll keep them tied down, then I know it will.”

Madara nodded, not bothering to question it any further. If Tobirama was the one behind it, it would work for sure. Instead, he moved on to the next most pressing matter. “What do you plan on doing with them, Hashirama? They’re too dangerous to just keep as prisoners for the rest of their lives. I know that they think that Tobirama is dead for right now, but the truth will eventually get to them. The last thing that we want is for them to try and attack him with so many other people around. He’ll die trying to protect those weaker than him.”

Madara saw Hashirama look away from the mirror and turn to look at him out of the corner of his eye. He followed suit and met the other man’s gaze. His friend’s chocolate brown eyes were wide with surprise and happiness.

“What is it?” Madara asked him, raising an eyebrow. “This is hardly a topic of conversation that should make you look so thrilled. You do understand that I’m talking about your brother, right?”

“Of course, I do!” Hashirama assured him quickly. “I’m not happy about the thought of Tobi dying, or anything like that! It’s...it’s because you’re so invested in this  _ because  _ of Tobirama! It makes me really happy to know that you care so much about him!”

“Why are you and your brother only coming to this realization now?!” Madara demanded. “Of course I’m worried about him! I certainly don’t want him to die.” He turned away from Hashirama and looked back at Kinkaku. “The village would suffer an irreparable loss if he were to die. A lot of people need him. You do, my idiot brother is fond of him, his students would be lost without him...the village needs his guidance.”

“And what about you, Madara?” Hashirama asked quietly.

“That doesn’t matter, now does it?” Madara asked rhetorically. “Your brother doesn’t care about soulmates, and I don’t want you to think that’s the only reason why I don’t want him to die. He’s so much more than just some stupid soulmate to me, so my opinion on everything doesn’t matter. We keep him safe because he’s important, and that’s that.”

“I think that you and Tobirama need to talk,” Hashirama said to him. “I think that the misunderstanding between the two of you has gone on long enough.”

“It’s not for lack of trying on my part,” Madara said. “It would probably be easier to deal with if I knew why he hated soulmates.” He knew that he was not-so-subtly fishing for answers, but he didn’t know what else to do. Hashirama knew his younger brother better than anyone else in the village, so Madara figured that he would have the answers that he wanted.

“Tobirama has issues with needing to be in control,” Hashirama informed him quietly. “We didn’t have any choice on anything that we did when we were children, a lot like you. I guess that I liked the thought of soulmates so much because it was something that my father couldn’t decide for me. The person that I was meant to be with was completely out of his hands. Tobirama hated it so much because it was something else that he was unable to decide for himself.”

Madara blinked in surprise as he looked over at his friend again. “You mean that he’s been so reluctant to the idea of all this because he’s afraid that his choice has been taken away from him?”

Hashirama nodded. “I think that he’s more of a romantic than he wants people to think that he is. I think that he wants the person that he’s with to love him for him, not because fate says that they’re supposed to love him.”

***

Tobirama scowled at the door of his office. He wanted to be in the T&I department so badly that he could hardly stand it. He knew why he wasn’t allowed anywhere near the building, however, and conceded to logic on that point.

He was abruptly pulled out of his angry thought track as he felt Madara’s chakra signature move from torture and interrogation to directly outside of his door. Tobirama stood up, worried that something had happened, as the door swung open.

“You are a complete idiot!” Madara snarled at him without preamble as he stalked inside and slammed the door shut behind him.

Tobirama dryly noted that the people outside of his room didn’t even look up from what they were doing, much too used to hearing them squabble about something or another at least a few times a week. 

“I think that we both know that I’m not an idiot,” Tobirama informed Madara flatly. “Is there a reason that you’re here, insulting my intelligence, instead of interrogating those lunatics with my brother?”

“We need to talk,” Madara snapped, “and I’m sick of waiting and being patient about it! We’re talking about this  _ now _ .”

Tobirama kicked his chair back and walked out from behind his desk. “Are you serious?” he demanded incredulously. “What’s  _ wrong  _ with you? You’re supposed to be interrogating the Gold and Silver Brothers! Can’t this wait until the end of the day, at the very least? We don’t have time for you to have a mental breakdown right now!”

“Hashirama and I were there as a glorified security detail, just to make sure that they weren’t going to break out and kill someone,” Madara informed Tobirama impatiently. “Hashirama told me that you were the one that made those chakra-suppressing ropes, so that’s never going to happen, anyway. In the rare event that it does, Hashirama promised me that he would fight to kill. He can handle them by himself.”

“Hashirama’s in on this idiocy too?” Tobirama exclaimed, unsure as to why he was so surprised. This spontaneity had his brother written all over it. “For the love of…” he trailed off, looking upward for some sort of guidance that was not given. “Fine, Uchiha. I suppose we should probably start with the reason that you called me an idiot.”

He looked over at the older man expectantly, waiting for some sort of explanation. At first, visible surprise crossed over Madara’s face, as though he wasn’t expecting Tobirama to cooperate so easily. He quickly got over his shock and a look of determination crossed over his features instead.

“Don’t you think that automatically saying no to the person that is your soulmate is the same thing as allowing fate to take your choice away?” Madara demanded. “You don’t want to have a soulmate because you feel as though it should be your choice, and you want the person that you're with to choose you as well. Then why don’t you let yourself choose instead of trying to push me away for the sake of some stupid principal?!”

Tobirama stiffened at the accusing tone in Madara’s voice and reeled at what he was saying. “What are you talking about?” Tobirama questioned. His heart was pounding at a painful rate, and he felt faint. What Madara was saying was hitting just a little too close to home, and he didn’t know what he was supposed to do...what he was supposed to say. He normally wasn’t one for playing dumb, but he didn’t see another option readily available in his grasp.

“I talked to your brother while we were at T&I,” Madara admitted, rubbing the back of his head almost sheepishly. “Obviously, it wasn’t the way that I wanted to figure things out, but I was desperate. You refused to open up and talk to me, and I...I just wanted some answers. I’m sorry if it feels as though I went over your head and invaded your privacy, but I’m not sorry that I found out what I did. If only because I can tell you how wrong you are now.”

“What am I wrong about?” Tobirama demanded. “I don’t see why you would come waltzing in here, trying to change my mind, when you know exactly how I feel about this whole soulmate business. I don’t want anything to do with it, so I don’t want anything to do with you!”

“I don’t like you because you’re my soulmate!” Madara snapped. Tobirama watched in surprise and fascination as the color on Madara’s pale face almost instantly changed to that resembling a tomato. Madara looked down at the ground in between their feet and took a couple of slow steps forward before he began speaking again, his tone quieter and more uncertain that it had been before. “Y-you’re incredible,” he mumbled. “You’re a genius, and a formidable shinobi. You have patience for our buffoon brothers, and for me when I’m being an idiot. You’re great with children, and you’ve even connected with Kagami in a way that no adult from our clan has managed. I’ve seen him grow so much under your gentle but firm hand.”

“Uchiha,” Tobirama sighed. “Don’t-”

“Shut up, Senju,” Madara snarled, looking away from the ground and meeting Tobirama’s eyes with his own, dark ones. “Let me finish!”

Tobirama immediately shut his mouth, feeling like a scolded child. He just silently looked at Madara and waited for him to continue.

“You’re afraid that the only reason that I’m trying to at least look into any sort of relationship with you is because we’re soulmates. I’m not going to lie and say that it’s not the reason why I originally became curious, but it’s definitely not the only reason why I want one. I’m attracted to you, Senju, intellectually and physically, and I thought you needed to know that. I’m not going to try and force you into anything, but you should know that refusing to even accept the idea of a relationship with me because you’re afraid that it’s only because we’re soulmates is the same as pursuing one because we are.” Madara looked away from him and around the room. “I like you, Senju. I’m not the best with words, so I’m sorry if I didn’t convey what I wanted to say very clearly, but I hope that it was enough for you to see what I’ve been wanting to tell you for months now.”

Tobirama felt his own face beginning to grow uncomfortably warm as what Madara had said in such a passionate and earnest tone finally settled into his brain fully. “I…” he sighed and looked away from Madara. “I need time,” Tobirama told him quietly. “I don’t know how I feel about you, Uchiha, because I haven’t let myself feel any way...you’ve made some good points, and I just need to think about it all.”

“I understand,” Madara told him. “I’ll leave you, I guess. Just...just mull it over, and I’ll accept anything that you have to say about it.”

He left the office without another word, and Tobirama didn’t move until the door had shut behind him.  _ I guess I’m just going to take an early day and finish my paperwork at home.  _ He quickly grabbed all of his papers and sealed them into scrolls. The sooner that he got out of his office, which had felt roomy until Madara had come in there, the better. He felt as though he was going to suffocate if he didn’t go somewhere else. If he was going to have a mental breakdown about this, it was going to be somewhere truly private.

***

Madara hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Tobirama in five days. It was an impressive feat, considering how closely together they worked. He was preparing to walk out of his home to head to work early Tuesday morning when that changed. The younger man was standing on his porch, right in front of his door. He was visibly startled when Madara opened his door up, and judging from the way that his hand was in the air between them, closed in a fist, he had been trying to work up the nerve to knock when Madara had unknowingly interrupted him.

“Hello,” Madara greeted, recovering from his own surprise quickly. “Is there something that you needed?”

“I can’t promise you anything,” Tobirama said abruptly, not bothering with social pleasantries. “I can’t promise you that I can do anything other than try. I...I’ve done some thinking and I guess I’ve come to realize that you were right about what you said last week. I’m willing to look into this and make my own decision on it after I have a little more information.”

Madara was unable to hold back the smile on his face, though he didn’t really try all that hard. He wanted Tobirama to know how happy that one decision had made him. He didn’t know exactly what he wanted out of this arrangement himself, but he was certain that nothing would come if they were both unwilling to let the other know even the smallest things about them.

“That’s great news,” Madara told him. “That’s exactly what I was hoping to hear.” He stepped further out onto the porch and shut his door, locking it behind him. “I was just about to leave, actually. Would you want to walk with me to work?”

One corner of Tobirama’s lips raised in a half-smile and he nodded, seeming almost shy in the action. “Yeah,” he murmured. “I think that I would like that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well guys, another chapter down and only two more to go! I hope that you liked it! Madara and Tobirama have finally come to an understanding! What do you think is going to happen next? I'd love to hear (see?) your predictions!


	5. Chapter 5

(Three Weeks Later)

Madara was... _nice_. Tobirama wasn’t sure what to do with that discovery. He was nice, thoughtful, considerate, intelligent, funny and so many other things that Tobirama had never expected him to be. It was a pleasant change to see a softer side of himself that he reserved for those he was closest to.

They had begun to spend the afternoons that they both had free together and had occasionally gone somewhere for their lunch breaks, speaking casually in an attempt to get to know one another. The most unsettling thing of all was that if someone were to come up to him and ask his honest opinion of Madara Uchiha, he wouldn’t know what to tell them anymore. He supposed that he would say something along the lines of them being friends.

He was mulling over the very idea of it all as he thought of what he wanted to eat that afternoon for lunch. Madara told him that he could choose, but it would be his treat since Tobirama had paid for their last outing.

“Your brother is a damn fool!” Madara’s voice thundered into his eardrums as Tobirama’s door flung open, hitting the wall.

“I love that Hashirama is always _my brother_ instead of _your best friend_ when he has gone and done something stupid,” Tobirama said to Madara dryly.

“It’s not the time for jokes,” Madara snapped at him. His long hair was in more disarray than usual as he immediately stalked toward Tobirama’s desk. He walked out and snatched Tobirama’s chair back and pulled him to his feet.

“What the hell, Uchiha!?” Tobirama snarled, pulling his arm out of Madara’s grip abruptly and took a couple of wary steps away from him. “You’d better have a good excuse for trying to manhandle me!” Before he could completely snap and punch Madara in the face, he felt it: two inhuman chakra signatures popped up on the outskirts of Konoha.

“You have to get out of here!” Madara exclaimed. “I came to get you and get you out! Kinkaku and Ginkaku have escaped. Hashirama fucked up yesterday and let it slip that you were still alive. I guess the idea that they had failed twice hadn’t sat very well with them, and they were angry enough to come up with a way out. Quit dragging your feet! It’s time to go!”

“I’m not running,” Tobirama snarled. “The entire town is in danger. I need to fight too. Let’s go and find them!”

“No,” Madara snapped back. “They’re after _you!_ Why would we waltz over and give them exactly what they want? Your brother, Izuna, and the heads of the Akimichi, Nara, and Yamanaka clans are handling it. You’re not putting yourself in danger like that pointlessly!”

“You’re not my keeper, Uchiha!” Tobirama argued. “I’ll fight alongside everyone else if I want to! I’m a shinobi, and it’s my job to protect this country!”

“Please, Tobirama,” Madara begged. “Don’t fight me on this! I...you didn’t see how you looked when those two were finished with you the last time. I can’t stand even the thought of seeing you look like that again!”

“I’m fighting, Madara,” Tobirama told him calmly before he brought his hands up and quickly completed the hand signs for his Hiraishin and located one of the numerous seals that he had placed around the village that was closest to the pools of chakra. The next moment, he was in one of the training grounds and immediately began moving toward the sound of fighting, not even having to check with his sensory skills to know that he was traveling in the right direction.

He felt bad for just leaving Madara like that in the Hokage tower, but he didn’t have time to argue with the older man. Two dangerous criminals were very close to wreaking havoc across their entire city. The thought of how many casualties that could cost them, caused him to move even quicker. 

***

Full-blown panic. That was all that Madara was feeling as he watched Tobirama teleport himself into danger helplessly. He stood in his soulmate’s office, gaping at the spot that Tobirama had been standing only heartbeats before. When he was finally able to do something other than just stare, he balled his fists up and cursed at the top of his lungs. 

Stupid, inconsiderate Senju! He was going to pay for this one! Madara didn’t know _what_ he was going to do to Tobirama, but he did know that whatever it was, the man was really going to get it! He rushed toward the window of the tower, pumping chakra into his legs to move faster. He swung the window open, and immediately felt the urge to smack himself across the face.

 _What the hell is wrong with me?_ Madara thought angrily. _I’m a damn ninja! Panic should not make me this stupid!_ He immediately began moving his hands, forming the necessary signs for a body-flicker jutsu. He didn’t know exactly where Tobirama was, his skills as a sensor weren’t all that great, but he did know that he was somewhere near the two powerful chakra signatures that he could see as clearly as he would be able to if those two rogue shinobi were standing in front of him.

He appeared in the middle of what looked to be a warzone and a garden. The two brothers were surrounded by Hashirama, Izuna and the famous Ino-Shika-Cho trio. It wasn’t an even fight, but the brothers were holding their own quite well. Madara immediately rushed over toward Hashirama and quickly did the hand signs for a fireball jutsu to block the oncoming water dragon jutsu that Ginkaku had sent his way.

“What are you doing here?” Izuna snapped as he rushed forward, meeting Kinkaku, who had rushed toward him. Kunai and shuriken were flying as the two fought, hitting each other with a plethora of kicks and punches. They were evenly matched from what Madara could tell. He moved forward to help his brother, but was stopped when Ginkaku started toward him.

“Can’t you freeze him, Shikado?” Madara snapped at the Nara clan head.

“Don’t you think that I’ve tried?” the man shot back angrily. It was the most emotion that Madara had ever heard in his voice. Apparently Shikado was either angry or offended that they were having this much trouble winning. “Every time that I get close, they just use a fire jutsu to dispel the shadow, or they move out of the way.”

Madara was about to reply as he saw Izuna land a well-placed roundhouse kick to the back of Kinkaku’s neck. His brother jumped back as the other fell to the ground. He was down, probably dazed, but Madara knew that it wouldn’t be like that for long. “Get him bound, Nara,” Madara snarled at him. “I’ll hold off the other!”

Madara ran toward Ginkaku, barking at the others to flank him. Right before Ginkaku was within his arm’s reach, he saw a wicked smile appear on the silver-haired man’s face. He jumped over Madara, dodging the fireball jutsu that he sent his way with an ease that Madara hadn’t seen in a long time. It kind of pissed him off.

When he turned to follow him, Madara felt his heart stop. Tobirama was there, at the edge of the clearing, with a really scary and oddly attractive fire burning in his red eyes. If they would have been in any other situation, it might have turned Madara on, but at the moment, it just terrified him all the more. Tobirama had a look on his face that made it clear that either he or the two brothers were going to be dead by the end of this fight.

“Brother,” Tobirama said calmly, “those chakra ropes were the only thing that I had that would contain these monsters. It didn’t work, and I don’t have the time to think of anything else. We need to fight to kill instead of contain.”

Hashirama remained silent for a few moments, and Madara turned to look at him. He snarled, “They’re never going to stop trying to kill him, you idiot! Do you not remember the shape that he was in when he first came across them?! Let’s just get this over with!”

“You’re right,” Hashirama’s voice was quiet, but there was a deathly serious note to it that unnerved Madara for a moment. This wasn’t the hokage speaking...it was a man who was trying to protect the last bit of family that he had left. “Kill them. Don’t hold back anymore.”

“Hold back?” Kinkaku asked. He was up and had barely managed to evade Shikado’s shadow jutsu. “What do you mean _hold back_?”

“Do you really think that you two are even close to a match to Hashirama?” Madara demanded. “He’s the strongest shinobi in the world. The only reason why you’re alive is because he wanted you guys to be. I hope that you’ve made peace with whatever god that you worship, because you’ll be going to meet them soon.”

“That’s fine by me, but we’re taking this bastard with us!” Ginkaku yelled, finally breaking the stillness that had surrounded the clearing since Tobirama had shown up. The gold brother jumped at the white-haired Senju, and Madara quickly moved, not really thinking about the consequences. He intercepted the man in mid-air, landing a powerful kick to the man’s side and knocking him into a tree on the other side of the clearing.

“I already told you that you need to stay out of this!” Madara snarled at Tobirama. “It’s too dangerous for you!”

“And it’s not for you?!” Tobirama snapped back. “I’m not a coward, Uchiha. I won’t run from this and let anyone fight my battles for me! Quit trying to protect me!”

Madara’s eyes widened as he saw a projectile out of the corner of his eye, heading straight toward Tobirama. He quickly grabbed the man by the wrist and snatched him forward, turning so that Madara was in between him and the kunai. He felt a sharp sting in his shoulder, and let out a soft curse as he let the other man go. It was better his shoulder than Tobirama’s chest.

He shut his eyes and let out a low curse as he let Tobirama go. He had been the one distracting him, and if that had been a fatal blow, it would have been Madara’s fault that it had landed. He reached behind him and snatched kunai out of his shoulder, wincing as he felt the wound tear a little more. He would be alright, even with the steady stream of blood that was pouring from the wound. It wasn’t a vital spot, so he had a while before it became a problem.

Tobirama could fight if he wanted to, Madara supposed. There was nothing that he could do to stop the other man. He would just have to be there to make sure that neither of the brothers landed a fatal hit to him. 

“Let’s get this finished quickly, you stubborn fool,” Madara sighed.

As he was speaking to Tobirama, Kinkaku had recovered and was coming at them again. He saw that Hashirama was fighting off Ginkaku, and he had his hands full. Madara had faith in the fact that his best friend could handle himself, so he put all of his focus on the other brother.

He met Kinkaku in the air halfway from where the man had landed. Kinkaku brought a fist forward, aiming for Madara’s jaw. Madara saw it coming and grabbed Kinkaku by the arm and slung him to the side. The other man flew, crashing into another tree. Madara landed and moved to go and attack him again, and he saw Tobirama doing the same thing. Kinkaku hadn’t landed roughly. He’d landed with his feet against the wood of the tree. He completely forgot about Madara and jumped off the tree toward Tobirama.

Madara watched in horror as the two clashed. It was much more violent than when he had gone after Kinkaku. He saw kunai flashing and blood flying. Tobirama was knocked backward for a moment, but it was only a couple of steps. Madara saw that he had a gash on his left shoulder, but he saw that Kinkaku had a kunai sticking out of his chest, maybe an inch from his aorta.

“Watch out, Madara!” he heard Hashirama shout. He automatically turned around, and he saw that Ginkaku was right on him. He had enough time to raise his arms and block the first blow with a kunai. He winced as the sharp slashed upward into the meat of his forearm. He couldn’t stop the second hit. He felt his feet fly out from underneath him and he was on the ground with his breath knocked out of his body. His head bashed against something really hard, probably a rock. His vision went black for a few moments, but it quickly came back when he felt a hot burning sensation in his chest,

“No, Madara!” he heard Tobirama shout out.

He tried to inhale and tell Tobirama not to worry about him, but he couldn’t. Panic and dread filled him as he realized that the kunai had punctured a lung. If he didn’t get help soon, he would die. He looked up at the man above him, who was smiling down victoriously at him. “You must be that albino freak’s whore, or something. I’ve never heard him sound so desperate, even before I slit his throat. If that’s the case, I hope you can hold onto your pathetic life long enough to see him die.”

Madara brought his hand up quickly and snatched the kunai from his chest and brought it up and buried it into the side of Ginkaku’s neck, twisting it to make the wound as bad as he could, relishing in the feeling of skin tearing and tendons and ligaments snapping.

“I’d rather see you die,” Madara rasped.

Ginkaku’s eyes widened in surprise just as blood began pouring from the wound. He rolled off Madara and brought his hand to his neck, trying to staunch the blood flow, but it was too late. He would be dead within the next thirty seconds.

Madara moved to get up, but the nearly crippling pain in his chest became even worse. He tried to cry out in pain, but he was unable to get enough air. Panting, he laid down and turned to watch Tobirama’s fight. He knew that he didn’t have much time left, and he figured that Tobirama being the last thing that he saw was fine by him.

Hashirama and the others had quickly gone to Tobirama’s aid. Kinkaku had turned even more vicious. He faintly heard him screaming his brother’s name as he kicked Tobirama in the stomach and caused his soulmate to fly into the head of the Yamanaka clan. They both skidded backward several feet and landed in a tangled heap. In his fading vision, he saw Tobirama getting up and a kunai landing firmly in his stomach while Hashirama grabbed Kinkaku’s arm and twisted it behind him, breaking the limb effortlessly. The last thing that Madara saw was Tobirama falling back to the ground and Kinkaku being engulfed in wood.

***

Tobirama grunted in pain as he tried to get to his feet. The threat had been eliminated, and he needed to get to Madara. “Not so fast,” Inozen said. He brought his hands forward, but Tobirama slapped him away.

“Don’t worry about me, idiot,” Tobirama snarled at him impatiently. “I need to get to Madara now!”

Inozen looked at him uncomprehendingly. “I feel like I’m missing something very vital here.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Tobirama said, “Madara is dying. Get me to him!” His head felt light and his vision was swimming as he looked at the clan head. It was all he could do to sit upright. He didn’t have time for this stupidity. “Hashirama!” he called to his brother. “Get me to Madara now!” Speaking so loudly, caused his stomach to tense, and he felt the wound stretch. He gasped in pain as he felt more blood soaking his front. His vision began to dim, and the last thing that he saw was his brother frantically rushing toward him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long wait! I'm back with another chapter, and the last one should be out soon. Thank you for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Tobirama woke up warm and comfortable. His pillow was firm yet soft...and slowly moving up and down. His hand was laying on top of it, and he could feel soft skin and strong, well developed muscles. He inhaled through his nose and took in the pleasant scent of burning wood.

He opened his eyes to confirm what he already knew: he was laying on top of Madara in a hospital bed. Both of them were only clad in their boxers from the feel of it. Tobirama was glad that they allowed him to keep a little bit of his modesty. He closed his eyes again and tried his best to figure out the best course of action.

A month ago, Tobirama would have just gotten up, found his clothes, and walked out. Now, things were a bit more complicated. All he could see the looks of concern that Madara had worn on his face as he looked at Tobirama. He could see Madara taking the kunai for him. All he could feel was the terror in his bones as he watched Ginkaku stab Madara and him being totally helpless because he had been fighting off Kinkaku.

Logically, he knew that Madara was there and he was completely fine, but the irrational side of him was still inwardly panicking. He felt the need to feel the fact that Madara was alright. 

His mind flitted back to nearly two months previously when he and Madara had been on a mission to the Land of Lightning. The older man thought that Tobirama had died. When he realized that Tobirama was alright, he had pulled him into an embrace. Had he been feeling this way: relieved and scared?

He shifted his head slowly to look at Madara’s sleeping face. It was smoothened out, and the permanent scowl that was always on his visage was gone. He looked peaceful and quite a few years younger, as though he didn’t have the weight of an entire village on his shoulders. Tobirama suddenly felt the urge to take some of the stress off him because it was a nice look for him, and he imagined that it would look a lot better if he wore it awake.

He was...quite handsome. He had a nice, angular jawline, a pert nose that was a bit crooked, as though it had been broken and properly set. His skin was fair, almost as pale as Tobirama’s. His chest was littered with scars, some more severe than others, but Tobirama found himself curious about the story of all of them.

He closed his eyes and sighed in resignation. He already knew where this was going, and he had to fight back the urge to run away from it. Madara had made a good point a few weeks back, and he was done with the universe dictating his decisions. He refused to choose Madara as a partner because he was his soulmate, but he would give the man a chance because Tobirama was interested in him and he might prove to be a worthy partner, but it would be Tobirama’s decision.

“Ugh,” he heard the man underneath him groan. He hadn’t noticed the arm that was wrapped around his waist until Madara unconsciously tightened it around him as he stretched, pushing him even more firmly into his muscular chest. Madara’s free hand came up and rubbed at his eyes as he yawned. A moment later, Madara’s dark eyes opened, and he immediately looked down, locking gazes with Tobirama.

“You didn’t leave,” Madara said, his voice a bit hoarse from disuse. He cleared his throat before he spoke again. “I’m surprised,” he continued.

“I don’t know what to do,” Tobirama mumbled, his eyes lowering. He wasn’t normally this meek about anything. “I...part of me does want to walk out, but...but there’s another part of me that just wants to stay like this.” Tobirama swallowed nervously. His heart had only ever beat this fast when he was in battle. He felt his stomach drop, and he was certain that he had a fifty percent chance of being sick. It definitely wasn’t helping that Madara hadn’t said anything at all.

He inhaled deeply and used every ounce of willpower that he had to lift his head up and look Madara in the eyes again. “Is...is that alright?” he asked uncertainly. He was terrified that he had said something wrong. He was no good with this kind of thing. Hashirama had been badgering him to speak with Madara about this for months. He had made it sound so easy! When he saw his brother again, he was going to strangle him for lying.

“It’s alright to feel that way,” Madara assured him quietly. The arm that was wrapped around his waist tightened again, and Tobirama felt himself shifting until he was completely draped over Madara’s form. He felt his other arm come up and wrap around him, pulling him into an embrace that was so warm that Tobirama just melted.

“I’m heavy,” he protested weakly. “You’re probably still healing, you need to-”

“I’m perfectly fine like this,” Madara murmured. “You’re not that heavy, and this isn’t the first time that I’ve held you this way.”

Tobirama felt a twinge of embarrassment. Did Madara really have to put it like that?

“Besides,” Madara’s tone had taken on a more playful and flirtatious edge, “the more skin that is touching, the faster the healing process. A genius like you should be able to see that this is the most ideal position that we could be in.”

Tobirama placed his forearms on either side of Madara and pushed himself up a bit so that he could look at the other man. He felt a hand at his face and watched with confusion as a look of complete awe came to Madara’s face.

“You’re so beautiful,” Madara told him. “I...I don’t think you understand how much you staying here because you wanted to be here with me means.”

Tobirama cut his eyes down again as he felt his cheeks heat up. “Why are you looking at me like that?” he mumbled. “You can’t look so happy to see me.”

“Why can’t I?” Madara asked. “The Uchiha don’t believe in hiding their feelings about anything, especially not with something like this. Our entire clan is based on strong bonds. We’re open with each other and we know how to express our feelings. I may not be the best at it, and I may not like it sometimes, but I know how to do it, and right now I’m trying to express mine for you.”

“I...I don’t-”

“You don’t have to do anything or say anything more,” Madara informed him. “I know that you’re a very reserved person, and that your affection is probably composed of small nuances that you don’t realize that you’re doing. I’m alright with that. I hardly need or expect an over-the-top declaration of love and adoration from you. This is more than enough.”

Tobirama was silent for a few moments, pondering what Madara had said and desperately trying to come up with a reply. He _wanted_ to say something in return. Madara had been decent enough to share so much of himself with Tobirama over these past few weeks, and the way that the other man had tried so desperately to protect him earlier...he deserved for Tobirama to say something...to share something of himself for once.

“I have a hard time trusting people,” Tobirama murmured finally. He could share this much, even if it was only something small. It would probably get easier as time went on. “I’m sure that it stems from all of the bloody betrayals and attempted coup d'etats that I saw in my youth. Humans are prone to betraying one another over the most idiotc things. There’s something in me, however, that feels more at ease with you around. Maybe that’s why I unconsciously put my guard up so firmly around you before. I feel as though you’re a trustworthy person, and that I have nothing to fear with you around. I’m not good with sharing things, however, and it’s going to take a while for me to break the habit of keeping everything to myself. I promise you, however, that I am going to work on it.”

“That’s alright,” Madara said. “I’m completely fine with you the way that you are, but if you feel as though you need to, then I certainly won’t stop you.” He tightened his grip around Tobirama again and Tobirama saw his dark eyes flutter shut. “Why don’t we get a few more hours of sleep, huh? Someone’s bound to come in here at some time or another, to check up on us, and they’re bound to go away if we’re actually asleep.”

Tobirama couldn’t stop the smile on his face as he silently nodded his head in agreement. He lowered himself down again so that he was fully laying on top of Madara, and he shut his eyes.

***

(One Month Later)

Tobirama had opened up to Madara more quickly than he had ever expected him to. He had told him about many things, letting Madara into that attractively large mind of his. They had gotten along quite well with only a few light arguments a week. Madara was...happy.

They had just concluded a long and unnecessarily drawn out meeting between the clan heads. The heads of the Nara and Hyuuga clans had been arguing over land boundaries in the village. It had finally been settled after Hashirama had agreed to send out a neutral party to look at the part of the forest that they had been squabbling over. Madara found himself still little more than frustrated when the meeting had been adjourned. Everyone had gotten up and all but ran out of the room, as though they were afraid that they were going to get called back inside for another topic to discuss.

“Are you going to just sit there all day, Uchiha?”

Madara couldn’t fight the smile that curled onto his lips at the sound of Tobirama’s dry tone. He turned and looked at the white-haired man, noting that he could see a mixture of lingering aggravation and amusement on the other’s visage. Apparently, he hadn’t been the only one that had been imagining bashing both Nara’s and Huuga’s heads together by the end of everything.

“I’m hiding in here from all other annoyances,” Madara admitted quietly. “I know that I’ll eventually have to leave, but I don’t want someone lingering outside of the door, asking my opinion on something that I couldn’t care less about.”

A corner of Tobirama’s lips twitched as he pulled out the chair next to him. “Do you mind if I join you?” he asked.

“Of course I don’t,” Madara told him quickly. He must have seemed a bit too eager judging from the way that Tobirama’s lips quirked up again, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. Spending some time alone with Tobirama seemed to be little more than a blessing at this point. They hadn’t been alone in private for something that wasn’t work-related since they had both been grievously injured during the Gold and Silver Brothers’ attacks. The most that they had managed had been lunch breaks together at restaurants with jutsus casted to allow for private discussions.

Tobirama sat down, turning the chair a bit so that it was angled toward Madara. “I’ve been thinking about some things for quite a while now,” Tobirama told him. “Would you mind if we spoke about them? I understand if you’re too frustrated to speak about it now, however.”

“We can speak about whatever you want to talk about,” Madara reassured him, touched by Tobirama’s thoughtfulness. He would be happy to speak about anything that wasn’t the meeting, after all, but he was curious to know what was on the other’s mind. Learning more and more about the ridiculously complex man in front of him was quickly becoming one of his favorite pastimes.

“Well, I would very much like to speak about us,” Tobirama informed him. He went silent after this admission, looking at Madara expectantly.

“I promise that I’m not trying to be obtuse,” Madara told Tobirama as a disclaimer before he asked his question, “but I feel as though I need to be to make sure that I’m not misunderstanding things. What is it about us that you want to talk about?”

Before Tobirama answered, he made a few quick hand-signs and a clone popped up next to him. Madara made a mental note to ask Tobirama about teaching him the technique later. Madara remained silent as he watched Tobirama’s clone walk over to the door and shut and lock it. Tobirama made the release sign and the clone disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving them alone once again.

“I’m awful with emotions,” Tobirama told him. “I’ve been taking this last month and analyzing mine. I have come to two conclusions.”

Madara blinked at him uncomprehendingly. He wanted to ask _why_ he was treating his feelings like a scientific test subject, but he decided not to. It probably had a lot to do with the horrible childhood that he’d had. Madara didn’t know nearly as much about Tobirama’s past as he would like to, but he knew enough to know that Tobirama had locked down his emotions at a very young age, and it was likely that this was the first time that he had let them out and looked them over since then. He probably didn’t know how to go about it in any other way.

“The first conclusion that I came to,” Tobirama started, “is that I feel for you something that I have never felt for another person before.” Madara’s eyes widened at the admission. He felt his face heat up and he gaped at Tobirama’s bluntness. It was as though he was talking about all of this as though this wasn’t an earth-shattering revelation.

“Let’s go somewhere else with this,” Madara said weakly. “Please, Tobirama. We’re done with work, and I don’t think that this is a conversation that we need to have in the middle of the hokage tower.”

“I don’t under-”

“Trust me,” Madara cut him off tiredly. “I promise you that I’ll explain everything that you want me to, but please, let’s go somewhere else.”

“Do you mind us going to my place?” Tobirama asked, clearly confused. He cooperated easily, however, much to Madara’s relief.

“That would be fine,” Madara said, internally cringing at the thought of taking the stroll there

“Grab onto my shoulder,” Tobirama said. He looked over at Madara expectantly. When Madara didn’t move to comply, Tobirama sighed and said, “You look uncomfortable. I figured that I could just Hiraishin us there. We can get this over quickly so that you don’t have to panic.”

It took a moment for Madara to get over his shock. He didn’t think that Tobirama would be so attuned with other’s feelings when he had no experience properly exploring and understanding his own. Madara shut his eyes and grabbed onto Tobirama’s shoulder, resigning himself to the most mortifying experience of his life. He didn’t know how he was supposed to explain the concept of romantic feelings to someone.

He felt something akin to the air being forcibly sucked from his lungs for less than a heartbeat. He opened his eyes and quickly sucked in air. He let go of Tobirama and put his hands on his knees, heaving in breath after breath. He used all of the physical discipline that he had to calm his erratic heartbeat, and after a moment, his breathing evened out enough for him to straighten back up.

“Sorry about that,” Tobirama murmured. His red eyes were lowered to the floor, and posture was slouched in true guilt. “It’s been so long since I started using the jutsu, I forgot how unsettling it could be to those who first experience it.”

“It’s fine,” Madara told him kindly. “I’m sure that you weren’t thinking about that at all. Though, I will admit that that bit of a warning would have been nice.”

He let his eyes roam over the simple decorations in the small living room that he was in. There was a loveseat and an armchair that sat in front of a fireplace. A rectangular, wooden coffee table sat in between the fireplace and the seating. The blue walls of the room were covered with bookshelves that had books, scrolls and neat stacks of documents settled into each cubbyhole. It was very...Tobirama. 

Madara smiled at it as he turned to look back at Tobirama. “Is this private enough for you?” Tobirama inquired.

“Yes,” Madara told him. “What was your second conclusion?”

“My second clusion was that I like the feeling,” Tobirama said, his voice immediately going back to the calculating tone that he had used back in the office. “I’m not sure what the feeling is, but I really do like it.”

Madara sighed and reached out. He grabbed Tobirama’s hand and pulled him over to the loveseat and sat down, pulling him down as well so that Tobirama was seated next to him. “You’re thinking too hard on this, Tobirama,” Madara informed him. “Your big brain is very attractive to me, but stop looking at all of this with your head. Let yourself _feel_. When you see me, what do you want to do?”

Tobirama was silent for a few moments as he looked at Madara. The Uchiha saw, with no small amount of delight, that there was a bit of red dusting his cheeks. It made him more curious to hear this admission.

“I want to do what I can to make you happy,” Tobirama mumbled quietly. “I want to see you smile. I want to make sure that you’re safe and protected. I...you getting hurt last month scared the hell out of me, and it put a lot of things into perspective for me. Y-you...I can’t stand the thought of you being harmed in any way. I’ve had nightmares of what could have happened if Hashirama wouldn’t have gotten me to you in time, and it just makes me so-”

Madara lightly placed a hand over his mouth, cutting off his agitated rambling. He had realized that the more Tobirama spoke when he was unsettled, the more panicked he got. Madara couldn’t stop the smile from coming to his face at the way that Tobirama had become so protective of him. 

He couldn’t fight the urge anymore. He’d been stopping himself from moving closer constantly over the past two months in an effort to make sure that Tobirama was comfortable. It had been torturous.

He leaned forward and brushed his lips softly against Tobirama’s. It was short, chaste and only made Madara want so much more. He moved back far enough to see Tobirama clearly, but he made sure to be well within the others personal space to make his intention clear.

What he wasn’t expecting was for Tobirama to like the contact so much. He looked at Madara with wide eyes, looking more adorable than a hulking giant had a right to. “C-can you do that again?” he asked quietly.

“With pleasure,” Madara whispered truthfully as he leaned forward and repeated the motion, brushing his lips lightly over Tobirama’s once again. He moved back for a heartbeat before he moved forward again and pressed his mouth more firmly against Tobirama’s. He heard the other’s breath hitch before he slowly and uncertainly began to respond. Madara felt a hand on his stomach through the fabric for the briefest of moments before he felt the hand bunch the shirt into a fist, as though Tobirama was silently pleading for him to not leave.

Madara slowly pulled away from Tobirama and looked at him with a concerned frown. “What...have you never done this, Tobirama?”

Tobirama meekly shook his head. “My clan considers the bonds between soulmates to be sacred. They didn’t allow affairs to happen outside of the two people that shared the bond. It’s considered a serious enough offence to warrant a person to be exiled from the clan.”

“Oh dear sage,” Madara murmured as he brought his hand up and cupped Tobirama’s cheek. “You poor thing.” He’d been repressing his feelings and desires for so long. He was still doing so, but Madara could almost feel the man’s self-control cracking. That would be something to look into at a later time. They needed to talk about feelings before talking about intimacy. 

“I want you to be happy too, Tobirama,” Madara informed him. “When I make you smile, I feel as though I’ve won some sort of great prize. I want to talk to you for hours and hours on end and learn the smallest things about you. I want you to be safe and sound, living in a place that makes you feel safe.” He stroked Tobirama’s cheek softly and murmured, “I’m going to need you to put that big brain of yours to work. What do you think that means?”

“It...I….”

“It means that I love you, Tobirama,” Madara relented, finally taking some pity on him. “It means that I want a relationship with you that’s more than just friendship. I want to hold you and kiss you. I’m going to eventually want to come home to a place with you in it. I’m trying to be so patient about this, but I’m in it for the long haul, and I think that you might have just reached the same page that I have.”

“This...this is love?” Tobirama asked. His face pinched into a small frown as he pursed his lips. “I wasn’t expecting the terrifying aspect of it,” he admitted quietly. “I’m constantly worried about you when you’re out on missions, and I don’t know how much more of that I can handle. I’m next to useless around here when it happens.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Madara urged him. “It’ll get easier to deal with as time passes.” He wanted to ask Tobirama why he hadn’t gone to Hashirama with questions about feelings and intimacy, but he immediately vetoed the idea. The very thought of that bumbling idiot trying to explain something like that made Madara cringe. He figured that it would have been even worse than his imagination was making it out to be, especially if Tobirama, of all people, had been the one to inquire.

“So,” Tobirama murmured, looking down at the ground with his hands clasped together. “What do we do now?”

“I can think of a few things,” Madara said. He put his hand on Tobirama’s chest and pushed him so that he was leaning against the back of the couch. He moved and quickly rearranged himself so that he was seated on Tobirama’s lap with his knees straddling the other man’s hips. Madara smiled at Tobirama flirtatiously as he loosely wrapped an arm around the taller man’s neck. 

He leaned forward so that their noses were brushing together and he heard Tobirama suck in a sharp breath. “M-Madara,” the younger stammered.

“Shhh,” Madara whispered to him. “Relax, Tobirama. There’s no need to get all worked up. I figured that there were some lessons that you seemed to have missed over the years. I was going to teach a couple of them to you now. You’re smart, and I know that you’ll pick them up quickly.”

Before Tobirama could protest, Madara sealed their lips together, taking delight at the positively adorable squeak that came out of Tobirama’s mouth afterward. When he felt the other man’s arms slowly wrap around his middle and pull him forward, he knew that he was lost. He loved Tobirama so much that it almost hurt to think about and he planned on having a long and happy life with the man underneath him, soaking up as much of his warm and loving embrace as he possibly could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo...naturally, as I was writing this, there were some ideas that came to me that I didn't dive very far into, because it was too late in the story line to do it. The part of Tobirama not being intimate with anyone because of the Senju not allowing any relationships that were not those of soulmates. So, I'm seriously considering doing a more in-depth version of this story, exploring that portion of it a little more. Let me know what you think!!!
> 
> This was the end, and I'd love to know what you thought of the story over all! It was fun to write, and I'm excited to write even more MadaTobi fics. Thank you so much for reading this all the way through!

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while since I've decided to show up around here! I've missed it and writing, so I decided that I'd do something short to warm myself up before I got back to my other stories that I've been neglecting. I hope that you enjoyed!


End file.
